Christian Fitzgerald nets second hat trick of season, Wisconsin hockey beats Minnesota in Big Ten opener

MADISON – It took 734 days and seven meetings, but the Wisconsin men’s hockey team finally got the best of its border rival.

The Badgers snapped a six-game winless streak against the Gophers on Thursday Oct. 30 with a 5-2 victory at the Kohl Center in the Big Ten opener.

Wisconsin, which is ranked No. 14, in the USCHO poll, extended its unbeaten streak to open the season  to seven games. With a 5-0-2 record the Badgers are off to their best start since the 2000-01 season when they started 7-0.

Senior forward Christian Fitzgerald recorded his second hat trick of the season, while seniors Ben Dexheimer and Kyle Kukkonen made two assists. Nine plays in all scored a point for the Badgers.

No. 18 Minnesota, which dropped its third straight game, fell to 2-6-1.

Five of the seven goals in the game were scored in the second period.

Sophomore Logan Hensler scored what proved to be the game-winner at the 11:56 mark of that period off a pass from Kukkonen to give UW a 3-2 edge.

Fitzgerald’s performance allowed him to surpass last season’s goal total. It was also his second multi-goal game of the season. He had a hat trick in the second game at Lindenwood.

He gave UW a 1-0 lead at the 5:26 mark of the second period and pushed the Badgers’ lead to 4-2 at the 2:19 of the third period. He completed the hat trick with an empty net goal with 75 seconds left.

Check jsonline later for more on the game.